Review – Logan (2017)

Sunday Fun Day! One of the films that everyone is claiming to be one of the best 2017 films is Logan. There are so many reasons why I personally wanted to see this movie. First of all, it’s technically part of the X-Men franchise, which I’m a huge fan of, a part of the Wolverine trilogy, which I’m okay with, and it’s the last time Hugh Jackman plays this role…so needless to say, it’s an important part of the franchise, and everyone started bowing down and praising the film in general…so…really, how was it? First, let’s talk about what it’s even about.

Logan is about Logan, what do you know? It’s in the near future, I believe 2029, and he’s getting weaker, his regeneration is not what it used to be. Not only that, but nearly all mutants have been wiped out at this point. While he’s dealing with his own health problems, he’s also taking care of a senile Charles Xavier when a young mutant comes along with promise of a safe haven full of other mutants, and all they gotta do is get there…even though Logan doubts its existence.

The main thing I want to say about this movie is it has some continuity issues, mostly in personality changes. They wanted this movie to be R-rated so much that it sort of gets in the way of 8 other movies that aren’t rated R. They’ve been coming out with these X-Men movies for nearly 20 years, so we’ve grown custom to this universe, and it’s sort of a PG-13 universe, if you catch my meaning. I have no problem with F bombs, nudity, or extreme violence and gore…but it does feel a bit foreign when you see it in Logan. He cusses so much you’d think the man just learned about a new curse word and he was trying it out as much as possible…because up to this point, he wouldn’t use the F bomb, he’d use other, safer words that fit into a PG-13 setting. Both uses are fine on their own, but this doesn’t feel like it’s part of the same franchise. So it’s a conflict, in my opinion. You can either see it as it’s own thing, or you can see it as part of a franchise, but not both…which is really strange for me.

That’s just the first impression though, what happens when we break this film down? That’s right, nitty-gritty time.

Perfect score for the people category, which isn’t really a big surprise, but everything related to the people, so acting, characters, casting, importance and chemistry couldn’t have been done any better. The acting was insanely good, the characters and instantly diverse and memorable, no one else could’ve played these characters, everyone has a role to play and adds to the plot in incredibly intelligent ways, and they all work really well together. Well done.

As for the writing category, I would say they mostly got everything right. I don’t really think the dialogue was all that memorable, and the story didn’t have the greatest focus in the world, but there are some good things there regarding families sticking together through the good and bad, and the sacrifices people sometimes have to make for others. I do consider it very original and it was definitely interesting from the get-go.

Behind-the-scenes was also really professional and nearly got the entire thing perfect. Personally, I don’t really consider the music terribly memorable, but everything else was great. The visuals had a huge focus in this one, the director was able to take the audience on a deep, personal journey with characters we all love, the editing was especially great during some action sequences and with the seizures scenes. Finally, it definitely was as-advertised.

The narrative arc score was also nearly perfect. The introduction re-introduced us to our favorite X-Men, Wolverine and Professor X, and the health conditions they are currently enduring, the inciting incident is when the new mutant shows up with the promise of a safe haven for mutants, the obstacles come in when they are headed to the safe haven while other mutant hunters are on their trail. I won’t spoil anyone, but the climax is pretty good, and the falling action didn’t have as much focus as it needed, but there is a little bit there.

It was also pretty entertaining in general. I would definitely rewatch it, I had a lot of fun watching it. I would buy it, but not at full price. There are things about it that I want to talk to others about, but it wouldn’t kill me if I didn’t, and it absolutely sucks the audience in.

Here are the specialty questions that I wrote before watching the movie. First of all, this is considered an addition to the X-Men franchise, so how does that fare? Well, to be honest, like I said above, it felt a little off continuity speaking, so that did get only half points. How does it do as a Wolverine movie? I think this is probably the best incantation of Wolverine that we’ve ever seen, period. So, that gets full points. How is the action? Insanely good. How is the drama? Very well done. Is it halfway decent? Is that a joke question? Of course it is!